This disclosure relates generally to purchasing, distributing, sharing, displaying, and consuming genomic information, and more particularly, to purchasing, distributing, sharing, displaying, and consuming genomic information in a client server environment.
Traditionally, personal DNA or genome sequencing has been out of the reach of the general public. The machines needed to perform the sequencing were expensive, and usually purchased by larger entities, such as research institutions or corporations. Furthermore, these machines generally took long periods of time to sequence the DNA once a sample was obtained.
In recent years, the cost of sequencing and the time required to perform the sequence has decreased. Samples that previously required months to sequence can now be sequenced in a matter of days or weeks. Whole genome sequencing or partial genome sequencing can now be performed at a much lower cost, which removes the cost barrier for many consumers.
Several companies have taken advantage of the lower costs and shorter sequencing times to provide genomic products or services directly to individual consumers. For example, some companies offer services that allow an individual consumer to trace his or her ancestry based on a DNA sample. Other services include providing statistics based on the DNA sample, such as the likelihood the individual consumer will contract a specific disease within his or her lifetime.
However, after utilizing the services of these companies, the individual consumer, or user, will have to provide another DNA sample and wait for the sample to be sequenced if the user wanted to utilize the services of another company. For example, if a user had his DNA sequenced by a company that only traced ancestry, the user would have to have his DNA sequenced by another company if he wanted a report on the diseases he may contract in his lifetime. This can result in multiple companies performing duplicate work. This can also result in multiple copies of the user's DNA being stored in various locations, which may be difficult for the user to keep track of, and may also raise privacy concerns for a large number of consumers.
Further, such direct-to-consumer services may provide information in different formats that are difficult to reconcile with other types of available information, such as web-based search information. For example, certain consumers may have difficulty interpreting sequence data or statistical data without additional context or tools. Other consumers, such as medical professionals, may have little use for basic context information, but may instead wish to directly access raw genome data for further analysis. Accordingly, there is a need for consumer-driven interaction tools for various types of sequence data (e.g., genome data) and for more efficient purchasing, distributing, sharing, displaying, and consumption of genomic information.